by Alex Knight
“Ensigns Zelda, Titus, and Kaiden. You did good work out there today. Made the Warden Corps proud.”
Thorne
Warden Captain
Class: Power Warden
Faction: Warden Corps
Level: 25
Quick facts: Captain Thorne, one of the most decorated officers in the Warden Corps, is also the captain of the WCSS Anakoni. A famous power warden on the fast track to admiralship, her exploits in combat are as well-known as her effectiveness as a peacekeeping agent.
A shiny captain’s badge was pinned to her chest, and her well-muscled physique was apparent even through her armor. Considering character creation was locked to default for wardens, a physique like hers meant she actually was that muscular in the real world. That seemed fitting, considering the steely ambition Kaiden saw in her eyes. She looked far too young to be a captain, but here she was.
Her nondescript brown hair was trimmed short in a military cut, and despite the determination in her eyes, she greeted them with an easy smile. The behemoth hammer of a power warden was strapped to her back; a thing of beauty, ornate and elegant, with the color of shining silver.
Some sort of high level, epic weapon, most likely. I bet it has awesome stats.
“We knew some heroes would emerge out of this whole Leviathan crisis, but I don’t think anyone expected to find them down at the rank of ensign. I reviewed the report from Lieutenant Ellenton, and I have to say I’m impressed. You never should have been on the Mochinki in the first place; that one’s on us.” She sighed and gave them a guilty smile. “Reports said to expect pirates in the area, but we’d heard nothing about raged. Though that didn’t stop you from completing your mission, did it?” She nodded at the backs of the noobs as Lieutenant Ellenton led them from the hangar. “Well done, ensigns.”
“Thank you, ma’am.” Zelda gave a half-nod.
“We can’t take credit for everything, though,” Kaiden said. “Lieutenant Sola and her wardens helped us immensely. We never would have made it without them.”
Thorne nodded at that.
“Lieutenant Sola and her unit did a fine job, as well. They’ll be rewarded for it once they’re back online. In the meantime, I’m giving you three a commendation.”
As she said the word, a barrage of system text filled Kaiden’s screen.
Quest Completed: Rescue trapped players on Mochinki Station
Part 2: You found them. Good for you. Now get them out of there.
Rewards: +1,500 EXP, +4 faction prestige
**Commendation**
Impressed by your actions, a superior officer has awarded you an EXP and faction prestige bonus for this mission.
+3,000 EXP, +2 faction prestige
Level 5 achieved!
Max health and stamina increased
+3 stat points
Class specialization unlocked!
Level 6 achieved!
Max health and stamina increased
+3 stat points
Armour capability unlocked: Stimpacks
Achievement unlocked!
A for Effort - 100 EXP gained!
You’ve impressed the higher-ups in your chosen faction and received a commendation. Well done! 2 more commendations and you’ll unlock the optional player title: Teacher’s Pet!
“Holy cow, that’s a lot of text,” Titus said, eyes wide as he took it all in. “Level five and six at the same time? Ha!”
Captain Thorne laughed.
“Ah, to be a newbie again and earn levels so easily.” She shook her head. “Anyway, if I can fill your screen with one last message, I have another reward for you. I think you’ve earned it.”
Kaiden felt himself smile as one more system message faded into view.
Restricted ability unlocked: Shackle
Allows a warden to touch a player with their hammer, creating restraints made of pure energy. Restricts all movement and use of abilities or items. Prevents players from logging out until removed. Can only be applied when a character is at critical health.
He tried to keep his enthusiasm contained, but the harder he fought, the more he felt his smile grow.
Yes! This is a huge step forward!
For the first time since he’d been thrown in prison, he felt like he was making progress toward freedom. Felt like maybe he could actually clear his name.
We can do this. We can actually do this.
He reined his excitement in for a moment. He still needed to look professional in front of the captain, after all.
“You three have made great strides today,” she said, giving them a slight smile. “Whatever happened in the real world, whatever happened outside of Nova, is history. There’s no changing it. But that doesn’t matter. In here, you can make up for your mistakes. You’re not there yet, but keep it up and you might just earn yourselves a fresh start in the real world. If you didn’t already know, I’m the one who decides how much time gets shaved off your sentence.”
“Thank you, Captain,” Zelda said, and Kaiden and Titus repeated her words.
“I’ll be watching your future exploits with interest, ensigns. There’s not much time left in the day, so I’d use it to pick your specs, if I were you.” She turned to leave. “And get some rest tonight. I’ve got a big mission for you tomorrow.”
“Yes, Captain,” they said in unison as she walked away. When she was out of earshot Zelda gave a fist pump and an excited cheer.
“Yes! We actually did it. I mean, I figured we could, but so soon?” She shook her head. “I have to say, I’m kind of impressed.”
“You could say we make a good team,” Kaiden said, smiling at her excitement.
Zelda hesitated, then looked to Titus. He met her gaze and held it for a long moment.
“Yeah,” she finally said. “I guess you could.”
“Not half bad,” Titus agreed. “Not half bad at all.”
“It’s good to see you two finally agreeing on something,” Kaiden said, laughing.
Titus gave a low, gravelly chuckle.
“Let’s not make a habit of it.”
“Let’s not.”
Chapter Seventeen
Kaiden’s settings menu showed it was approaching dinnertime in the real world, which meant they’d be forced to log out soon. As such, they hurried to the canteen to discuss their class specializations. Not that they needed to sit down – standing didn’t use any stamina -- but waiting in the middle of the hangar to discuss their choices felt somehow wrong. Nova was a game, but it was a realistic game, and old habits died hard.
“Zelda, you care to go first?” Kaiden said to kick off the conversation.
“Sure thing.”
There was a long moment of silence as he and Titus waited for her to speak. Instead, her eyes went distant. Then there was a flash of light and her hammer and bracer began to glow. They became so bright Kaiden had to avert his eyes, blinded by the burning light.
“And...done,” Zelda said cheerfully as the light faded.
Kaiden turned his eyes back to find her hammer had changed, matching the hammer-guns he had seen on the Mochinki. The handle was now a gunstock, complete with a trigger on the underside and the hammerhead on the end forming the barrel.
An ally has chosen their class!
Ensign Zelda has chosen the blast warden class.
Blast wardens are all about the long game. Their shield is now circular and transparent with twin hollows on each side to fire through. Their hammer is now a hammer-gun. Melee attacks are disabled. Laser blasts fire from their weapon as a new basic attack. Their hammer-gun has also gained the ‘Atmospheric Charge’ ability.
Atmospheric Charge: Allows you access to an alternate source of charge, drawing energy from your surroundings at a rate of 5 charge every 1 second in combat.
“Oh,” Kaiden said, hesitating. “I thought we were going to talk about it first. Maybe pick specs that work well together.”
“No need.” She waved his suggestion away. “From the mom
ent I saw Lieutenant Sola’s blast wardens doing their thing, I started dumping my stat points into perception and intelligence – the primary attributes needed for blast wardens. Perception increases my accuracy and intelligence increases damage instead of strength. Ranged fighting is the only way to do it, in my opinion.” She paused a moment. “Uh, you two should pick what works best for you, too.”
“Well, alright,” Kaiden said. “That’s one down, I suppose.”
Kind of wish we could have talked that out first. Whatever. On to Titus.
“What were you thinking? Did any specs catch your eye?”
The big man shrugged.
“To be honest, I wasn’t paying much attention. To busy trying to keep everyone alive. Not to mention myself.”
Kaiden nodded. Couldn’t blame him there. It had been one crazy mission they’d just finished.
“There are four warden specializations,” Zelda explained like an excitable teacher. “Blast wardens, power wardens, shield wardens and enhanced wardens.”
Kaiden recalled watching each of the classes battle back on the Mochinki. Each one looked like it had its own distinct advantages. He wouldn’t pick blast warden, since now their squad already had a ranged damage dealer. He wished he could speak to some other wardens about the choice – he really didn’t want to make a specialization decision without complete information.
I’ll figure it out later. Let’s get Titus settled first.
“You know,” Kaiden said to him. “Power warden might be a good choice. A big man like you would be an intimidating opponent.”
“Not that size has any correlation to strength in this game,” Zelda added.
“Oh yeah.” Kaiden nodded, half-lost in his own thoughts.
The more he thought about it, the more it made sense. Titus was already intimidating of his own accord. Give him the movement abilities, massive damage, and the huge hammer of a power warden and he’d be a walking terror to his enemies.
“I’ll pass on that one.”
Huh?
That was far from the answer he’d expected. Maybe Titus just wasn’t seeing the advantages.
“Really? Power wardens are like the front-line fighters of the corps. They have a lot of offensive abilities. You could deal massive amounts of damage.”
“I’m not interested.”
“Why not?”
“I…uh…” Titus sighed, then shook his head. When he spoke again, his eyes were distant and sad. “I’ve killed before. For real. Not by choice,” he added quickly. “Or so I tell myself. But there’s no way around the fact that I killed a man.” He breathed deeply, then continued, as if he had been wanting to get it off his chest.
“Back in the day, before the King Street Gang and all that, I was a bare-knuckle boxer, and a darn good one. Maybe too good. I was in a title fight with big money on the line. Enough to pay my family’s bills for a year. We weren’t well off, not in any sense, so for us that was life-changing kind of money, you know?” Titus sighed, but soldiered on with his story.
“I had the better of my opponent from the first round. Knocked him silly, but he stayed up. Punch after punch, he stayed up. Now, this was street rules boxing. You don’t just go twelve rounds then pick a winner. No, if both fighters are still standing after that final round, no one wins.” Titus cracked his knuckles and frowned at the memory.
“He knew I had him beat. Everyone did. But he wouldn’t go down. Wanted me to lose with him, I guess. But my family needed that money. I had to put him down. So I hit harder. And then next time he stumbled, I hit him harder than that. Somehow, though, he made it to the end of the twelfth round. Made it until the bell rang, then collapsed. The doctors later said he was dead before he hit the mat.”
The big man sat in silence a moment as Kaiden reeled from the story. He managed a glance at Zelda and found her looking similarly shaken.
“I didn’t mean to kill him,” Titus said. “But that’s irrelevant, because I did kill him. And my family didn’t get the money, either. And then my brother…” he trailed off. “That doesn’t matter right now. All I’m trying to say is, if I can avoid being a killer, I’d like to. I know we’re just in a game, but I don’t do aggression anymore. I’m done with that path.”
Kaiden found himself at a loss for words.
What do I say to follow that? What does anyone say?
“I...uh, I’m sorry about all that, Titus. I had no idea.”
Titus shrugged. And then, to Kaiden’s surprise, he chuckled. Not in a happy way. It was a sad sort of chuckle.
“That’s why I believed you, Kai. I’ve spent my life around thieves and murderers, and worse. I know what those kinds of people look like. I know the darkness in their eyes. The lack of feeling, of kindness, inside them. I know the look, and you don’t have it. You didn’t kill Bernstein, but you didn’t have to tell me that, I could tell from the moment I met you.”
“Thank you, Titus. For believing me. And for trusting me enough to say all of that.”
“For trusting us,” Zelda said with a gentle smile. Then she clapped, snapping them out of the moment. “Though if I’m being honest, things are getting a bit too chummy around here for my taste. I liked it better when you were just a big dumb brute Kai had decided to drag along.” Her tone was jovial, and she elbowed Titus in the ribs for good measure.
“Well, maybe I liked you better as the snarky know-it-all with a reckless plan that’s going to get us all sentenced to life in prison. Again.”
“We’re agreeing on things,” Zelda said. “We have to stop doing that.”
Titus smirked. “Agreed.”
Zelda sighed.
Kaiden laughed at the two of them.
“Alright. Back to business. Titus, I have another idea. Power warden is off the table. But what about shield warden? Based on what you told me, you’d make a great tank.”
“Tank?”
“Yeah. A tank is a character that draws the enemy’s attention and takes damage for the rest of the team. They protect the squishier classes – those not designed for taking punishment – so the rest of the group can focus on dealing damage.”
Titus rubbed his chin, considering. “Like how Sola’s shield wardens held the front line while the blast wardens attacked from a distance?”
“Exactly!” Kaiden said. “And, as it happens, we already have a blast warden.”
“I wouldn’t mind having someone up front to keep the enemy distracted,” Zelda said. “Makes my job that much easier.”
Titus smiled, the dark mood his memories had brought on seemingly forgotten.
“You know, that sounds pretty good.” He slapped a hand on the table. “How do I do it?”
Kaiden took a few moments for himself as Zelda walked Titus through the process of selecting his specialization. First, he pulled up his character sheet to see how it’d changed since the last time he’d checked it.
Character
Name: Kaiden
Race: Human
Level: 6
Class: Warden
Attributes
Strength: 15 Intelligence: 15
Endurance: 15 Perception: 15
Dexterity: 15 Unassigned: 15
Abilities:
Hammer Smash, Shield Bash, Hammer Toss, Shackle
Perks:
None
Class specialization unlocked! Choose now?
That’s a lot of unassigned stat points.
He was tempted to assign them all now. The flashing final line of his “abilities” section appeared to want the same.
Part of him wanted to do it, but another part knew it was a foolish decision. He needed to pick his spec with intention and purpose. He needed to pick whatever spec would best help them complete their mission and reveal the truth about Bernstein’s murder.
And he did need to consider his own playstyle, too. Fun was a part of it, but being stuck in a class that didn’t mesh with his playstyle would be detrimental to the team. So what spec to pick?
On one hand, Zelda’s choice of fighting from a range made a lot of sense. But the argument against that was that having two blast wardens in the group would leave them vulnerable in close combat. So blast warden was out.
Going for shield warden was likely out, too, as that would cripple their damage output. He and Titus would likely be able to tank for an extended amount of time, but that would leave Zelda to deal all the damage. And if anything happened to her, they’d be crippled. So not that, either.
That left power warden and enhanced warden. From what he’d seen of the power wardens, they were experts at close combat. If he were being honest, going that route would round out the group quite well. Maybe that was the correct choice. But would he be good at it? Would the class mesh with his playstyle?
In the past, he’d enjoyed both high damage-per-second (DPS) classes and support classes. But he’d never played a game as advanced as Nova. Even a support class like enhanced warden seemed able to fight decently well. Lieutenant Sola had been right in the thick of it with the rest of her wardens.
He assumed that as a power warden he would be stacking strength and trying to deal as much damage as possible. But he wasn’t even sure what an enhanced build would look like. The quick facts had said enhanced were some kind of scout-type class, so perhaps they focused on speed? Kaiden didn’t know much about how the mechanics worked in Nova, so he wasn’t sure how an agile class would work in battle.
Opening his character sheet for more information, he focused on the ‘dexterity’ stat, which he assumed was used to improve speed.
Attribute: Dexterity
Higher dexterity increases a character’s base movement speed and also gives them a higher chance of dodging attacks and landing critical hits.